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Dear Big V Hardcover – 30 Sep 2009

by Ellen W. Leroe (Author)

5 ratings

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Courtney Condon, a funny, off-beat junior, is caught smack in the middle of the war between the Lewds and the Prudes at Delaware-Valley High School. Court's the founder of an abstinence club at Dull-Val. But when she's assigned an Op Ed piece for the school paper that forces her to work with Lance, the major player and hottest guy at school, this up-close and personal contact with Lance throws her into a Whirlwind of Confusion over her chaste ideals. Meanwhile, Courtney's staunchly devout, strict-Catholic mom is pushing her own form of prudishness to the point of alienating the entire family, especially when Mom catches Court in a lip-lock with Lance in his car, right in her very own driveway! Laugh-out-loud funny, Dear Big V illuminates the conflict between hormones and values that teens face every day.

Product details

Hardcover: 200 pages
Publisher: WestSide Books; 1st edition (30 September 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1934813109
ISBN-13: 978-1934813102
Product Dimensions: 14 x 1.9 x 21 cm
Boxed-product Weight: 318 g
Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item

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Review

Dear Big V is "...howlishly funny...and surprisingly undidactic..." --School Library Journal

"Dear Big V covers subjects on the minds of many teenagers today: abstinence and virginity...Without being preachy, she manages to be touching, clever and funny at the same time. Teen readers will love this book." --Lensey Namioka, author of Mismatch, a 2008 International Reading Association Young Adults Choice winner<br /><br />"...fresh, funny and relevant, and original. Courtney is a likable and sympathetic character...The dialog is both zippy and natural." --Ellen Conford, author of The Alfred G. Graebner Memorial High School Handbook of Rules and Regulations, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults

About the Author

Ellen W. Leroe grew up writing fairy tales in northern New Jersey. After graduating from Elmira College in New York State, she worked as a fashion buyer. But she soon returned to her original love, writing. Ellen moved to San Francisco and began working on novels while working at various administrative and editorial positions. When her first Young Adult novel was published in 1983, she became a full-time writer. Thirty of her children's books have been published since then, and Ellen has also created a greeting card line, won poetry awards, and lent song lyrics to a jazz CD. Writing continues to be her passion and chief form of entertainment. She lives in San Francisco. Dear Big V is her first YA novel with WestSide.

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Amazon.com: 5 reviews

Cynthia Hudson

Courtesy of Mother Daughter Book Club.com

9 October 2009 - Published on Amazon.com

Courtney Condon is a junior who is suddenly facing a lot of issues. The school club she started a year ago for students committed to staying virgins until marriage is being taken over by a new girl who wants to ramp us their profile and be more confrontational. Her mother won't talk about sex, and she acts as though it's the cause of all evil. To make things worse, she finds her own resolve weakening as she becomes attracted to the cutest boy in school, who has a reputation as a "player."

As she navigates the minefields all around her she turns to the "Big V," her virginity, for advice, and she's surprised to find it sometimes answers back. Courtney's observations about the world around her are often laugh-out-loud funny. Reminiscent of Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging (Louise Rennison), Dear Big V by Ellen W. Leroe is for an older crowd who will appreciate the frank treatment of conflict between hormones and values.

The issues are definitely in your face, but the book provides a great forum for moms to talk with their high school daughters about important issues: premarital sex, appropriate behavior at school dances, sexual abuse, normal sexual feelings, dating, "good girls/bad girls," seeing issues in black and white, and family rules. Fiction is a great way to address topics that have the potential to embarrass moms and daughters and inhibit frank discussions. Group conversation about these topics is also a great way to take the pulse of your daughter's peers and other moms.

One person found this helpful

Samantha M

Dear Big V

5 March 2010 - Published on Amazon.com

When you look up the definition of "prude" in the dictionary, there are no words to define it, there's only a picture of Courtney Condon. Courtney is the epitome of a good girl, she's modest, and she's the founder of Donuts and Coffee, the schools abstinence club. On top of all of that, she is also the only one in the school that can resist the charms of Lance Lindsey, the most gorgeous guy in school and the school's total player.

Lance is THAT guy, you know the one, we all know the one. He's gorgeous, charming, has a new girl every week, and thinks he can have anyone he wants. He's the kind of guy that you think is so gorgeous, but wouldn't want to even shake hands with without wearing a hazmat suit. But none the less, he is a fairly realistic character, aside from the "when he walks into a room, everybody stares" mentality, that is something that I've never seen happen in all my almost 21 years.

Courtney and Lance are thrown together to do the coveted Op-Ed piece for the school newspaper, and this fact amuses Lance and infuriates Courtney. They have this very Cate and Baze (Life Unexpected, new show on CW) kind of relationship going on and it's pretty hilarious. Now it's time to see what happens when the Queen of the Prudes and King of the Lewds is thrown together, and with the single-mindedly religious mother that Courtney has, anything is bound to happen.

I really wanted to like this book more. Dear Big V is cute and funny, and the author was able to address sex and abstinence without being preachy and clinical. But overall the book left me feeling...meh. I expected more from it, there was quite a bit of different things thrown into the story and instead of giving them all time to develop and finish well, they were all rushed into the last few chapters, which left me feeling unsatisfied.

Courtney is funny and mildly adorable, but then there were moments (mainly in the beginning) where I just couldn't stand her. I found her judgmental and close-minded and I couldn't connect with her, but as she started to grow, I did like her more but I still never fully connected with her. The one character I did adore was Andy, Courtney's best friend, while she stands for her beliefs, she's accepting of other people's thoughts and feelings, plus she's really funny.

One of my biggest issues with Courtney is that after a few kisses and literally only a few very brief conversations with Lance, she was telling her best friend that she thinks she's falling in love with him. I know that in high school and being that age makes you think simple physical attraction can be love without really knowing someone, but that was just a bit much, and very unrealistic. I found it hard to believe that a character like Courtney could confuse love and lust so easily.

Maybe if I was younger and still dealing with the same issues as Courtney, I would have responded better, or maybe with the lack of connection I felt with the characters themselves, I wouldn't have. There's no way to really know. I do think that younger readers could benefit from Courtney's plight; I would love for my niece to read this and maybe save her some heartache later down the road. I think it's a good book for a look on abstinence, it doesn't come of clinical and preachy like most others do, and for that alone, I do think readers will respond better. Maybe others will love Dear Big V, but it just wasn't something I related to.

Amazon Customer

Well, that was weird.

17 May 2011 - Published on Amazon.com

I'm not for sure why I picked up Dear Big V. I knew the topic was virginity, but wow, it's about all anyone really talks about. The opening begins with the MC just chatting it up with her BIG V which was all sorts of weird.

I found Courtney to be a mix of things. A little bit naive, a tad bit annoying, bold when she wants to be, and a confused teenage girl. The idea of being pressured with boys is a topic a lot of people might like to read about. Most of what happens with Courtney was all very predictable to me. The moment Courtney gets kissed by a guy she use to not be able to stand she's suddenly head over heels about him. I know being a girl sometimes you're mind gets to raising, but I found the whole thing between her and this so said guy to be a bit overboard.

Also this book takes a spin at a family secret that while is always very awkward to talk about anyways, in this book it seemed a bit out of place. It kind of came at me from left field and I didn't really know what to think about it.

All in all, it made for a quick read, but nothing to really recommend.

Flamingnet Teen Book Reviews

[...] Teen Book Reviews Top Choice Book

7 April 2010 - Published on Amazon.com

Dear Big V is about a young girl, Courtney, who is
battling with her club, Donuts and Coffee, and her
school's sexual activities. Donuts and Coffee is a club
that Courtney founded to announce and protect girls' and
boys' virginity. As the book progresses Courtney finds
that she is slowly falling for the school's biggest hunk
and player, Lance Lindsey, and is losing the one thing
that matters to her, her virginity. Courtney finally makes
a decision that will not only determine if she stays with
Donuts and Coffee or to go against everything she ever
believed and throw away her virginity.

Reviewed by a young adult student reviewer
Flamingnet Book Reviews
Teen books reviewed by teen reviewers

One person found this helpful